MISS JODY SHOWED LOVE AND INNOVATIVE STYLE TO THE BIG APPLE

Original Shalamar member and legendary singer/songwriter/producer Jody Watley brought more with soulful singing and hot dance movements that had the crowd out their seats dancing and wanting more.
Her show began with her DJ playing dance classics including The Jacksons’ “Blame It On The Boogie” and Grace Jones’ “Pull Up To The Bumper.” After her band walked on stage, the Grammy-Award winning Icon did her own introduction live and twice, and she strutted on the stage donned in a black sequenced top, with a single black glove, black pants and shoes, and performed her rendition of Chic’s 1979 classic “I Want Your Love” which contained funky breaks, and a medley of her solo hits including “Your Love Keeps Working On Me,” “I Want You” before returning to the Chic classic. This was followed by her house hit “I’m The One You Need” where she posed by playing touching her Natural Afro (yes kids, Miss Jody was rocking a natural do and she has the looks and body that you would die to have) and making us feel that we were at a fashion show. She had the crowd empowered when she performed top charting solo debut “Looking For A New Love ” and “Beautiful” which had the crowd out their seats, clapping their hands and snapping especially when Jody sang the classic Hastalavista baby!”
“Thank you” she said before she launched into “Don’t You Want Me” which contained elements of Classical and Jazz and “Most of All” where she vogued, but one of the show’s was when she performed an updated of her innovative classic “Friends” that was originally did with Eric B. & Rakim twenty years ago.
“There weren’t too many rappers doing songs with singers. Not it‘s out of control” she told the audience before she performed both her and Rakim’s parts before she drove the crowd crazy and had couples dancing when she performed her first timeless ballad “Everything.”
“It’s nothing but a party” she said before she shook a female audience member’s hand and complimented her on her earrings.
“By the way, I love your earrings” she said in a lovely and fierce way.
Jody then introduced her band, and cracked a few jokes with the audience, and surprised the crowd by doing something that we thought that would never happen; no she didn’t ask former Shalamar members Jeffrey Daniels and Howard Hewitt to join her on stage. Instead she asked the she performed a medley of the groups hits and the audience was so shocked that they couldn’t hold their composures, while some fans were too chocked up to join her during impromptu performances of “ A Night To Remember,” “This Is For The Lover In You” and “Make That Move” with the latter being a request when she asked the fans what other of the group’s classics they wanted her to perform. She also spoke about not feeling bad for the mistreatment she received from the group’s former label executive and lead singer.
“When you’re at peace, there’s no anger. But I wouldn’t trade in that experience, because it helped me to be more business minded” she said and received a loud round of applause and ‘that’s right Jody’ from the audience.
She then performed her current single “Candlelight” where she had clips of her classic videos playing on the theatre’s monitor, before she performed tunes from her “Midnight Lounge” album, and showed the crowd how to work a stage while she performed her award-nominated classic “Real Love,” where she strutted, posed and vogued as the band played hot breaks, and laid across the stage.
She then surprised the crowd by performing with her mentor who taught her had to have stage attitude, before she invited some young kids to join her, and their performance was so hot that they could have easily make Madonna (who copied Miss Jody’s style) take a breather. Giving the performance extra spice was Jody performing her hit “Still A Thrill” and Michael Jackson’s classic “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” with her singing lead and the King of Pop’s chant playing in the background. Afterwards, she thank the crowd, shook the audience member’s hands, and received many flowers and gifts (including an autographed copy of longtime fan Donald Peebles’ novel “Hidden Fires”).
Jody Watley’s show was great. It would have been hotter had show included her hits “When A Man Loves A Woman, “ “Affection” “Love Hangover” and tunes from her album “Flower.” Hopefully she will add these songs to her repertoire, but all in all, her show was fabulous and she showed the crowd that a real diva knows how to work a stage and connect with her fans by showing them love.